The paradox of the serrated sickle erythrocyte: The importance of the red blood cell membrane topography

Abstract : Red blood cell rheology and adhesiveness play a key role in the occurrence of vaso-occlusive like events in sickle cell anemia. The present paper reviews counter-intuitive findings supporting that rigid and serrated sickle red blood cells do not initiate vaso-occlusion. Instead, the less rigid red blood cells could initiate vaso-occlusion because of their increased adhesiveness to the vascular wall. We suspect that stiffness of sickle erythrocytes and the topography of RBC membrane are factors affecting adhesion to the endothelium.